Happy Little Things: February

Camomile Tea candle 

Yankee Candles have a scent in Camomile Tea, on the website they describe it as "A wonderfully soothing aroma of chamomile and honey, steeped with tea leaves and a touch of citrus zest". I love this so much I can't even find adequate words! When I have anxiety or I've had a stressful or busy day, I can't explain how, but it just soothes and relaxes me.

Valentines Day

I quite like valentines day, I'm one of those people who's in the middle. I don't like my valentines day to be super soppy and romantic, but I also don't complain about the fact you should show someone every day how you feel about them, I do agree with the fact it shouldn't be the only day you show someone you love them but I think it's a nice excuse to do something extra special. 

Leona

One of my childhood best friends went to Australia around 9 months ago and when she announced she was coming home early I couldn't even contain myself! One of our other friends, her son, myself and my boyfriend all went up to the airport to see her home with her family and I'm so happy she's home!

One Tree Hill

I have a bad habit of starting a new show and binging on it, then I get fed up halfway through and I start a new show. This means it takes me a long time to finish any show! This time I started watching One Tree Hill on Netflix with my boyfriend, we're almost half way through season 3 already and I am hooked! 

Social nights

Not having  money is a hard thing. One thing that's had to stop is social nights out with my friends, not only that but I had put on a bit of "relationship weight" and really didn't feel comfortable going out anymore. Recently I've enjoyed a night or two in the pub or in my friends house having some drinks with good friends. Boy how I missed it!!


XO

Mini Yankee Candle Haul

 

The other day I was having a browse in Carraig Donn and I had a look at their new candle stock. Joyfully they had the new spring scents in! And Oh. My. God. they smell so beautiful and so fresh that I couldn't resist picking up a few!!

The first one I picked up was Aloe Water. On the website it's described as "Clean, refreshing water blends with thick, soothing aloe to create a wonderfully relaxing fragrance experience". This smells so fresh and so clean and just something I could take deep breaths of over and over again! I bought this in two small votives (one of which was burning when I took the photo, blogger error, oops!) and a wax tart.

Shea Butter is just the most creamy, relaxing dreamy scent. Yankee describes it as "Pure contentment… indulge yourself in this creamy smooth scent with hints of beautiful fruit blossoms". It's something I like to light in the evenings and at night, especially when I feel tense or anxious. I bought this in two wax tarts and a small jar, seriously, it's that good! I think I might have to pick up another one or two, I think this could be a winner.

The last one I picked up was Pink Grapefruit, I love this so much, it's so summery and fruity and amazing! It's a perfect scent for summer and it's described as "Perfectly ripe, sunkissed fruit bursting with bright, tingly citrus to stir the senses". I only had enough money to pick this up in a small jar but I'm considering going back and picking up a medium or large too because I have a feeling I will fall in love with this.

XO

Valentines Day

Valentines day is always an understated day for me, yes I think you should show someone you love them every day but I still think it's a lovely day and a day to do something extra special, maybe like going to an expensive restaurant, which is something you wouldn't do every weekend.

For this valentines day my boyfriend and I agreed we really wouldn't spend much on each other, considering our anniversary is in a few weeks, and just use the day to spend it in each others company. We cooked dinner together which I love doing, I love being in the kitchen with my boyfriend and making a great meal and being able to enjoy it together, it just feels good being able to work together. After our meal, which was set up so beautifully, we sat and talked for hours and really reconnected. We always communicate and have great conversations but it was so great to just sit across from each other and not have any other distractions in the room like a TV or a laptop. 

 

I hope you all  had a wonderful day, whether you celebrated with a loved one, a friend, or even at all!

XO

5 Life Lessons I Learned by the Time I was 23.

1.  Life isn't worth surrounding yourself with people who don't deserve you. This is one of the biggest things I've learned in my 23 years. Life really is not worth the stress of having people in it who don't make you happy, comfortable and who you can truly rely on. Even if I have a friend who's being negative or there's a disagreement about something I find it's just best to stop lingering on it, let it go, and not worry about it unless it's really important!

2. Make up is not that important. I know that is a pretty 'duh' statement. Make up is obviously not the be all and end all of life but there was a long time I would always wear makeup and rely on it to feel good about myself, and no there's nothing wrong with that if that's what you're happy with. I just realised I don't need it to feel good. If I'm happy with how I look, weather I'm wearing make up or not, then it's all good! Confidence is the best thing you can wear. 

3. Taking time to yourself is so important, but so is time with friends. It's such a nice thing to be alone. We all need time to disconnect from the world and from other people for a short while. Time on your own helps you to be more independent, you have time to think and to get stuff done. On the other hand, it's also so important to be with friends and be able to enjoy the company of others. No matter what you're doing, the company of friends is so great! The memories and laughs you will share will be so irreplaceable and it can bring you out of a bad mood you mightn't have thought you could shake!

4. You need to love yourself before anyone else can love you.
This sounds a little bit cliché but it's true. If you want someone to truly love you for every bit of person that you are, you have to love yourself. If you can't accept both your greatness and your flaws then it's going to affect your relationship in the long run. You need to know what your insecurities are and how to deal with them in a way that doesn't depend on another human, to learn your faults so that others can't use them against you and to know how wonderful you are so you know that if someone hurts you that you know you're amazing and you still have so much to offer to someone else who will appreciate you.

5. Life goes pretty quickly, so make the most of it. It's pretty terrifying to realise how fast life is going, and if there's one thing I noticed, it's that for a lot of years, specifically from 18 to 21 years old, I didn't do much to remember. I went to college and I had a holiday and that was pretty much it! I decided enough was enough and I started saying yes to more things, taking more photographs and mainly not finding excuses to get out of things. I did them and I really enjoyed it because, yes it's great to have time alone but only when I'm not missing opportunities to have a life! Spend time with the people you care about, even if it's just an hour talking. Do things that make you laugh, do things you're scared of! When you look back these are the things you remember, these are the things  you smile stupidly to yourself about when you're alone, it's what makes life worth it! 

These little notes may not be groundbreaking, or spectacular but they're pretty big "a-ha!" moments for me, in my life. I hope you enjoyed reading them and (maybe) even taken something away from it.

XO 

Dandelion Tea

For the past 5 or 6 months I've been drinking at least two cups of dandelion root tea a day, on and off. When I do remember to drink it and I can drink it for a week without forgetting I see some unbelievable benefits!

For one, my hair has grown much longer than I thought it could! I had my hair cut into a short bob for my 18th birthday, and since then I've been growing it out (I'm now 23) but up until recently my hair has been at just above boob level for around three years. No matter how many times I got it trimmed (which wasn't often), or used special shampoos or home remedy hair masks, nothing worked. When I started drinking dandelion root tea I noticed that all of a sudden my hair was longer than it had ever been! All of  a sudden it was below my boobs, around 4 inches longer than it had been for the past three years! 

I notice that bloating, especially in my face, goes down considerably. I also notice that a lot of cellulite goes away, its a noticeable difference and for me it's enough to be happy about! On top of that my nails are much stronger, my eyes are brighter, my energy has been unlike anything before. Before I started drinking this tea regularly I was always tired, I was always sluggish and I never felt like I got enough sleep. Now I can wake up in the morning and I feel normal again, I feel bright and energetic and I just generally feel very good throughout the day. 

Dandelion root tea has some other amazing benefits that I haven't physically noticed, for example: it purifies the blood and cleanses the system (great for after a night of drinking), it maintains and improves the liver, kidney, pancreas, spleen, stomach, and gall bladder functions, it has antioxidants that help your body fight off toxic bacteria and viruses and also helps with digestion.

This tea also has great benefits for people who suffer from type 1 and 2 diabetes, rheumatism and arthritis, chronic hepatitis and jaundice disorders and it also aids weightlifters in muscle building programs! It almost seems like a miracle tea!

One other thing I really like about this tea is that the taste isn't awful. I've had some detox teas that taste unbearable to the point I couldn't even drink them, and some were okay with a natural sweetener like honey, but I never noticed any differences and I was always left so disappointed. I don't need to add any sweetener to the dandelion root tea, I can easily manage two, even three cups a day. I find it easiest to drink when it's just gone warm or lukewarm. Although some might find it harder to drink than others!

I get my tea in a local health shop for €2.50, which compared to some detox and diet teas is an absolute steal in my book! 


XO

My To Do: February

 

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1. Lose 5lbs 

2. Start jogging/running in the gym

3. Finish reading Allegiant

4. Drink more water

XO